I agree with Ran about the issue in slide 3. The words "open" and "closed" should be switch to make sense of the bulleted items. For example, when the switch is closed the diode cannot "turn on" having 12V in the cathode and ground on the Anode. Just pointing it out so there wouldn't be any confusion.

Concerning the terms BUCK and BOOST in SMPS... The central component of the SMPS is the inductor, and, counter to its cousin, the capacitor, the inductor is basically a current-operated device. (The capacitor, on the other hand, is a voltage operated device.) In the SMPS design wherein the output voltage is less than the input voltage, the inductor must "BUCK" the incoming current to reduce the output voltage to the desired level.

In the case of an SMPS having an output voltage higher than the input voltage, the inductor (by means of the callapsing magnetic field and the resulting current at input current cessation) must "BOOST" the input voltage to the desired higher output voltage.

Missed the live session today but I caught the archived replay, It's a good brginning. I'll miss tomorrow as well but be live Wednesday, I am a job searching Electronics Engineering Techbician pursuing new technology and this looks like a good place to start.

On slide 3 in the writeup on the right side, it appears the words "swith is open" and "switch is closed" are wrong in the first two bulleted items. For example, in the case of the first bulleted item, if the "switch is open," NO ENERGY WILL FLOW from the battery.

Double Insulated: Double insulated appliances are products that have been designed in a way so as not to require a safety connection to electrical earth. Typically,it's that third prong on the power cord plug. The basic requirement is that no single failure can result in dangerous voltage becoming exposed so that it might cause an electric shock, and that this is achieved without relying on a connected-to-earth metal casing. This is usually achieved at least in part by having two layers of insulating material surrounding live parts or by using reinforced insulation.

@Alex - My interest this week would be to learn more about the state of this technology. There seems to be a lot going on with HBLEDs and sometimes lots of them. Therefore, the power supply reqs. can be intense. Configuration of the LEDs is also important as well as the choice of LEDs. There is much to know.

There are lots of great applications. It's great to see the diversity of LED applications. My co-author Ron Lenk is the expert on switch mode PS. He wrote a book on Practical Design of Power Supplies by Wiley. He's also available for consulting, as am I. Please contact us at sales at reliabulb dot com.

@luizcosta, You are welcome. Yes, their demos are pretty cool. And the lightbulbs are the mesh network, so it would be easy to add sensors to the mix to detect occupancy and set lighting accordingly. Adding RGB leds would make for even more customizability.

@Carol - I'm interested in design parameters for heat sinking high brightness LEDs (SMDs) such as the current crop of automotive headlamp DRLs or "angel eyes". What materials and how to mount the LED to them?

@Carol - I'm interested in design parameters for heat sinking high brightness LEDs (SMDs) such as the current crop of automotive headlamp DRLs or "angel eyes". What materials and how to mount the LED to them?

@luizcosta: My workaround for missing slide numbers has been viewing the PowerPoint in Normal View instead of slide show so that the numbered slide thumbnails appear to the right with the current slide highlighted.

Persistence of vision is cool -- maybe we'll get into a sequential buffer output device to display text, etc, only while in motion (like those clock displays that you only see the time output while the display wand is "ticking" in a repetitive arc.

We are interested in building LED lighting projects using AC and working with PICs to control the display. Have set up one circuit with opto and triac and seems like it will work. any white papers or web links would be appreciated.

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Industrial workplaces are governed by OSHA rules, but this isnít to say that rules are always followed. While injuries happen on production floors for a variety of reasons, of the top 10 OSHA rules that are most often ignored in industrial settings, two directly involve machine design: lockout/tagout procedures (LO/TO) and machine guarding.

Focus on Fundamentals consists of 45-minute on-line classes that cover a host of technologies. You learn without leaving the comfort of your desk. All classes are taught by subject-matter experts and all are archived. So if you can't attend live, attend at your convenience.